Clarence+Loveaux

Nathelyn Collins, age 17, died at Cook County Hospital on August 13, 1954 from complications of an abortion perpetrated by Rev. Clarence Loveaux in a back room of his storefront church, Pentecostal Righteous Temple of God.

Adding another bizarre twist to this situation, the father of a teenage girl picked up by police as a material witness reported her as kidnapped because he hadn't believed that the men were real cops until she was located at a juvenile holding facility.

Loveaux, age 59, insisted that he had only been "giving treatment" to Nathelyn, not performing an abortion. However, he had two small rooms at the back of the church that was full of medical equipment necessary for an abortion practice. He was arrested when another 17-year-old white girl identified him as the man who had perpetrated an abortion on her.

Police, who had staked out the church for two weeks prior to the raid, said that Loveaux charged between $5 and $100 for abortions.